On Monday, the members of the lower house rejected the government’s official report on the assassination of Kandahar’s late police chief General Raziq. Arguing that there were political motives behind Gen Raziq’s killing, the MPs raised voice saying the government might have been deliberately concealing information regarding the assassination and Kandahar attack.
On Monday, the heads of defence, security and intelligence were scheduled to appear in the lower house to inform the lawmakers about the situation of Raziq’s assassination and the comprehensive security scenario of Afghanistan. The officials were not present as expected to be and the speaker of the house consequently said that “ security officials should have come today, we cannot exclude it from the agenda, it is still on our agenda, and we will delay it until Saturday.”
Some MPs in fact went on to say that the fact that the security officials did not show up in the house is an insult to the Wolesi Jirga. The lawmakers have raised questions and doubts regarding the assassination of Gen Raziq.
Gen Raziq was the police chief of Kandahar and an advocate against terrorism who helped to bring down a lot of insurgents and their camps in the province. On 18th October, he was killed by a Taliban insurgent who opened fired after a meeting in the governor’s office and the attack claimed the lives of general Raziq as well as two other people. Sudden death of the general left a political and security void in Kandahar and consequently the parliamentary elections in the province were delayed by a full week.
Finally last weekend, on Saturday the elections in Kandahar took place. Although there weren’t any security impediments, other types of problems were plenty on polling day.
President Ghani visited the province shortly after Raziq’s death and so did Chief Executive Abdullah along with Deputy Chief Executive Mohaqiq. President Ghani had clearly pointed out in his address during the visit that the attack was a sure conspiracy that was plotted in Pakistan.
Many others including the members of Wolesi Jirga also believed and pointed that Pakistan should hand over the perpetrators of the attack. However the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul condemned the attack and the foreign ministry of Pakistan clarified that the country rejects any claims of providing safe haven to conspirators of Gen Raziq’s killing.
